Movie Review :: Lifetime Original Movie Girl in the Attic

Lifetime

Lifetime’s newest Saturday night thriller, Girl in the Attic, is a cautionary tale about abduction and grooming, but more of a warning about broadcasting too much of your life on social media.

Kelsey (Sophia Carriere) is making a social video journal of her attempt to build up stamina and strength so she can do a run to raise money in her mother’s memory for cancer research and treatment. Her dad Frank (John Cassini) pushes her every step of the way, her coach and her champion, doing all he can to help her reach her goal. But the day she finally decides to do the 10 mile run, she doesn’t tell him because he doesn’t know she’s been collecting money, wanting it to be a surprise when she accomplishes her goal. Unfortunately, she’s been broadcasting her location to her followers and one in particular, Billy (Keenan Tracey), has taken an interest in her to the point of traveling her route until he finds her on a lonely stretch of mountain road, using the ruse of looking for his lost dog. Telling her he has flyers in his trunk, she follows him to the car but ends up with an ether-soaked rag over her face, knocking her unconscious and into the trunk. Billy’s mom (Jean Louisa Kelly) recently had an accident that’s left her in a wheelchair, so he expects her to be at physical therapy when he comes home with Kelsey … but she isn’t, having come back early when her appointment was cancelled. With Billy not answering his phone, she had to get her neighbor Mrs. Byrd (Beth Fotheringham) to help her. But Billy has a girl in his trunk and he needs to get rid of them, so to celebrate mom Debbie’s accomplishment of walking two steps with a walker, he sends them off to enjoy a celebratory meal.

Billy gets Kelsey to the attic and chains her up with just a dirty mattress to lie on (and we won’t even question how or where she went to the bathroom, but there is a roll of toilet paper next to her mattress). Unaware of what’s going on but noticing Billy is spending a lot of time in the attic, Debbie suggests he turn it into a home gym since he doesn’t have time to actually go to the gym with work and taking care of her. Good idea, he says, but what he really ends up doing is soundproofing the space so Debbie can’t hear Kelsey screaming for help. Time passes and Debbie and Mrs. Byrd don’t think Billy looks any different than he did when he installed the gym, and Debbie also gets suspicious about a package that Billy has received. Having enough of his subterfuge, Debbie insists he invite his girlfriend to dinner, but he claims she’s too sick to come. Debbie wants a photo to prove it, so he stages one in the attic, overlooking one major detail — a piece of luggage in the background that holds costumes and memorabilia from Debbie’s younger days as a performer. He texts her the photo and she is stunned to see the suitcase, so when he’s out one day she drags herself, literally, up the stairs to the attic and discovers Kelsey. Debbie thinks this is some kinky game her son is playing but Kelsey shows her the chains and screams, ‘Do I look like I want to be here?’ When Debbie asks how long she’s been there, Kelsey’s answer makes it seem like three months but Kelsey finishes her statement and reveals she’s been there for FIFTEEN months. Debbie is shocked, and is even more dismayed when Billy catches on that she knows about Kelsey. But that makes it easier now for him to release her to basically be their maid (Billy has been doing his best to groom Kelsey to be the perfect wife for him). Debbie assures Kelsey she will do what she can to help get them both out of this situation, but plays along with Billy, treating Kelsey like the help. Billy catches on that the two are up to something, so it will take an extreme measure to try to save them. But will it work?

Lifetime

While Girl in the Attic is billed as a ‘Ripped from the Headlines’ event, the opening credits claim it is based on true accounts, plural. Yikes! It’s actually quite an effective drama with a solid screenplay by Tawya Bhattacharya & Ali Laventhol and Jill Abbinanti-Burke, harrowing in some of the scenes of Billy’s abuse of Kelsey (although never really giving us a backstory as to why Billy is this person, but showing us later that he’s planning to do it again to someone else) and his mother. Once Kelsey is abducted, the story is seen mostly from her, Billy’s or Debbie’s viewpoint, leaving us — and Kelsey — unsure if her father and best friend Sofia are still looking for her. (There is a moment where Billy shows Kelsey a picture of her father and another woman, trying to convince her he’s moved on but we never know if it’s a real photo or something Billy created). Things do take a turn once Debbie is aware of Kelsey, and there are some good moments of bonding between her and Kelsey, having to be extremely stealthy in how they distract Billy long enough to make their escape. One attempt fails miserably, and Debbie has to step up and take the blame so Billy doesn’t beat or kill Kelsey. A major sacrifice will have to be made if the women are going to get out alive. Director David Weaver builds up the tension as we wait for Debbie to discover Kelsey, and really makes the scenes with Kelsey and Billy extremely uncomfortable, and putting us on edge again as the women fight to survive and escape their imprisonment. Kudos to whoever decided to also give us on-screen text showing how much time has passed, with a nice touch of changing the wording from the time of Kelsey’s abduction to the time of ‘imprisonment’ as she and Debbie basically become his hostages. In general, even though the movie has some very disturbing content, it’s all very well done and it never feels exploitative, carrying the underlying message that social media can be dangerous if you’re not totally aware.

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The performances are all excellent. Sophia Carriere is totally carefree in the beginning, but after her abduction she plays the stress, the weariness, the suffering from the abuse and the hunger, to perfection. And yet, even with the abuse, the starvation and the grooming, she never gives up, she never gives in, making Kelsey a very strong woman in a terrible situation. It’s actually a very different performance than the one she gave in Fame: A Temptations Story, showing off her acting skills. Keenan Tracey’s Billy is a Jekyll-and-Hyde character and he switches between the two with expert precision. One minute he has to be the doting son/caregiver to his mother, the next he is a figurative monster with Kelsey. As wtih Dr. Jekyll, the Mr. Hyde part of his personality begins to take over to the point that his mother doesn’t even know who Billy is anymore and has no idea why he’s become this person. He really is riveting to watch, never giving a hint as to how he’s going to behave from one moment to the next. Jean Louisa Kelly is also outstanding as Debbie, dealing with her spinal injury but also unaware that Billy just maybe gaslighting her as well, trying to convince her that her missing money is just something she’s forgotten because the injury has caused memory loss, but also letting her believe the housekeeper is stealing from her (like Debbie, we never really know the truth of the matter). Kelly also does some great work to show Debbie’s suffering when Billy takes her medication away from her, causing her hands to become gnarly from arthritis, rendering her unable to even feed herself. But Debbie is also a smart cookie, clever enough to be working on a solution to their problem while actually gaslighting Billy back by playing along with him, pretending to also see Kelsey as just a maid to attend to their needs. These three excellent performances really help make the movie work, firing on all cylinders.

John Cassini and Sidney Quesnelle do some fine work as father and friend, Beth Fotheringham lightens things up with her brief appearances throughout the film, and Shiraine Haas has cornered the market on detective roles, having recently played another detective in Girl Taken. Oh, if only someone had thought to just make her the same character as in the earlier movie and this could actually become a series of films with Haas investigating various disappearances.

Girl in the Attic is certainly not a pleasant story, and it may be triggering to some, but it’s told in a respectful manner with that subtle warning about the use of social media, and it is anchored by three very solid performances. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is definitely one to consider if you’re in the mood for a taut thriller.

Girl in the Attic has a run time of 1 hour 28 minutes, and is rated TV-14.

Girl In The Attic | Official Trailer

Lifetime